New vessel designed to better access far-shore wind farms

The Wave Craft uses air cushions to lift 80% of vessel out of the water

A vessel designed to reach offshore wind farms more cheaply and easily has been demonstrated for the first time in UK shores at Seawork International 2015 in Southampton.

The Wave Craft, developed by Norwegian shipbuilder Umoe Mandal with support from the Carbon Trust's Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA), was a finalist in the OWA's international competition to find the most innovative solutions for accessing far-shore wind farms. The vessel was adapted from a design used by the Royal Norwegian Navy.

Using an air cushion to lift 80% of the surface effect ship (SES) ensures that only a small part of the hull is in the water. This reduces wave induced motions and increasing the operational window when assessing wind turbines to wave heights of up to 2.5m. Owing to its increased stability in the water the boat also minimises sea sickness for its crew.

In addition, it can operate at a minimum draught of less than 1m, providing more options for tidal restricted harbours. The vessel can reach high speeds of more than 40 knots with a lower fuel consumption than a high speed catamaran and is said that overall it increases wind farm accessibility by at least 20%.

Trygve Halvorsen Espeland, development manager of the Wave Craft at Umoe Mandal, said: “We really believe that we with this vessel have found the right market for the surface effect ship technology.

“The offshore wind industry can benefit from all these added performances, and especially with the new wind farms being further offshore. We believe that the Wave Craft offers game changing capabilities on how to think operations and management for the offshore wind.”

This March OWA partner DONG Energy has chartered the first Wave Craft vessel at the Borkum Riffgrund 1 Offshore Wind Farm in the North Sea. DONG Energy is one of the nine industry partners in the OWA programme who have supported the development of this concept.